In His Eyes
by Unforgettable Green Eyes
Summary: Cloud, Leon, and Zack have a conversation about the women—and pregnancy—behind their backs. CloudXAeris.


**Note** : Erm... Just felt in the mood for something on the more humorous side. Hope you enjoy.

 ** _In His Eyes_**

"You know," Zack drawls, his eyes on the exit of the nearly empty bar where the women have just disappeared through. "It wasn't until Tifa and I were expecting our first one that I finally realized a woman must have written the wedding vows. The "For better or worse" part in particular."

"What are you talking about?" Cloud lifts a brow at the grinning black-haired man.

"Leon understands, right?" Zack gives the brooding swordsman a knowing look. "He's been through it twice himself with Rinoa."

The normally impassive-looking man's lips quirk up at the corner but he simply shrugs his shoulders.

"Haven't you noticed anything…different about Aeris?" Zack asks. "Your relationship?"

"What do you mean different?"

Zack gives him a look of disbelief. "I know it's only your first time going through this but you can't have not noticed it."

"You mean that she's getting bigger every day?" Cloud asks in confusion. "Isn't that normal? She's pregnant."

His companions' eyebrows shoot up to their hairlines.

Zack gazes thoughtfully at him. "Not just that."

"There's more to it than just the weight gain, but that's a huge part of it," Leon says and grimaces. "No pun intended."

"Like what?" Cloud demands, annoyance quickly kicking in. He's not up to playing this game with Zack today—the other man gets far too much enjoyment out of giving him a hard time. But Leon taking part in the teasing is unusual and for that reason alone, Cloud wants to know just what it is that the other two are trying to get at. If they know something he doesn't, they should just come right out and say it, he thinks sourly.

"Has it not affected your…activities?"

Cloud suddenly has the horrible feeling that he is going to start blushing like a schoolboy who's tripped over his own feet and fallen flat on his face right in front of his first real crush. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Leon coughs lightly into his hand. "I think what Zack is trying to say is that the changes that occur in a woman's body during pregnancy can make certain things undesirable, not to mention difficult."

Cloud's face feels like it is on fire. The three of them don't normally talk about these things. He brings his drink up, tips his head back and takes a long swig, hoping it'll cover his red face.

He sets the bottle back down on the table. "It's not a big deal."

"Really?" Zack looks at him in disbelief.

He gives a small nod.

"Well, there are some perks that come with the changes, I have to admit." Leon arches a brow at Cloud. "Zack can't appreciate them the way we can, though. Right, Cloud? You know what I'm talking about."

The blond blushes even harder. He does like those changes but he's always loved Aeris' body before the baby, too.

"I see," Zack laughs, looking from one man to the other. "I'll have you know I always appreciate Tifa's body."

"That's not the only reason why," Cloud says, torn between embarrassment and exasperation.

"Wait." Zack holds up a hand. "You mean, Aeris is one of those women who enjoys what happens in bed more now that she's breeding?"

"Way to make her sound like a broodmare," Leon says dryly. "I dare you to say that around the women, especially Tifa."

"I'm not stupid," Zack grins, and turns back to Cloud. "Well, is she?"

Cloud's eyes widen. He and his wife have been a bit more active now, not that he'd had any complaints before. Aeris has always been very enthusiastic in the bedroom but— "That's not what I meant. I just don't mind the changes."

Zack's jaw drops and he gapes at him. It is the first time in Cloud's memory since he's known the man that he's seen him at a loss for words. He looks at Leon, who is also staring slack-jawed at him.

The gunblade wielder recovers first. "You really don't mind the extra…" he leaves the rest of the sentence hanging.

"No."

"C'mon." Zack has found his voice all too soon. "You can't tell me all that rubbish about a woman glowing with pregnancy is true. Well, Aeris is still stunning and she does seem to glow, I'll give you that," he quickly amends, and chuckles as Cloud narrows his eyes at him. "But do you really find her more attractive now than when she was not pregnant? When she wasn't heavy with child?"

"Yes," he answers truthfully, and hopes that that will be the end of that and the other swordsmen will finally drop the subject. He really doesn't see why they're making such a fuss about it. Aeris is just as slender in the arms, legs, and face as before, with most of the newly added weight going to her belly as it should and some distribution to certain areas of her body that he finds rather fascinating. More importantly, she is still soft in all the right places, and he has absolutely no problems with the other changes either.

"Even the way she walks and moves about?" Zack presses.

Cloud sighs. "What's wrong with how she walks and moves?"

"Pregnant women are ungainly and clumsy. And they waddle like ducks."

His mouth drops open. "You really thought that about Tifa and Rinoa?"

Leon winces. "Not exactly in those terms…but yes."

Cloud doesn't know what to say. Of course he's noticed Aeris' awkwardness but he thinks it's more appealing than anything. And sexy. Some of the best moments for him are the lazy mornings they spend just lying in bed while she is stretched out naked beside him, and he has all the time in the world to touch her as he pleases. He loves going over every inch of her body, studying each small, subtle change that the pregnancy has made to it, running his hands over the pale silken skin stretched tight over her belly that is swollen with his child, feeling the baby kick under his hands, awed and amazed by it all.

"I…" Cloud swallows hard, knowing he's about to set himself up for even more ridiculing. "I think Aeris is fine just the way she is."

Zack can be quite ruthless, despite the charm all the women claim he exudes, Aeris included. She tends to laugh right along with Zack's jokes, never mind if they're at his expense and are sometimes downright uncomfortable, especially where they concern her. Aeris finds those even more amusing.

"Relax, love," she'd chuckle as he'd frown at her, then try to smooth his ruffled feathers. "He only makes fun of us because our connection is a little different than most couples'. That makes us an easy target." Cloud himself has seen little evidence of this so-called charming aspect of their friend's personality. But then again he's not a female and that is the main criteria necessary for Zack to display his winning self, from what he has observed anyway.

"Wow." Zack gives a low whistle. "Love really is blind."

"And deaf," Leon adds wryly. "Don't get us wrong. Having a child is an incredible thing but what about the random outbursts of tears for no reason whatsoever, the strange food cravings, the mood swings, the temper tantrums, the—"

"—the beatings and the threats to cut off your manhood," Zack finishes with a grin. "If I've learned anything, it's that any man who wants to keep his head should always give a hormonal pregnant woman her way, and nod and agree with everything she says, even if she's not his wife."

Cloud shrugs, not sure whether the other man is kidding or not. With Zack, one never knows. "Aeris hasn't really been like that—she's only happy all the time." He's not above getting back at them a little himself. "There has been no threats or one word of anger from her so far."

"You mean that's not just an act she puts on for the rest of us?" Leon demands.

"Of course not," he answers, a little stunned at the question. "She's like that at home, too." In truth, there have been a few times as her due date draws ever closer when Aeris has felt self-conscious and unattractive around the company of other women, and has had her moments of tears and jealousy. But Cloud's feelings about the baby and her are so transparent, she only has to look at him to know that she has nothing to worry about, and her own happiness comes through over her insecurities.

"Lucky bastard," Zack mutters.

Leon nods with feeling. "Tell me she at least makes you massage her back and rub her swollen feet every single day."

"And ankles," he admits. "But she's sore and I really don't mind doing it. She returns the favor and does a lot more…" he trails off at the way they're looking at him with unmistakable venom. Cloud finds himself thinking it's a good thing his sword is propped up against the wall right beside him. He eyes the other two men, glowering at him, as they finish their drinks in silence.

"Cloud?" Aeris' soft voice suddenly cuts into his thoughts. "Are you all right?"

The men's heads swivel around to where their wives are standing just inside the bar, back from visiting the crafts store a few doors down that the men had decided to sit out on. Cloud's eyes pass quickly over the faces of the unsuspecting women they'd been discussing and flushes guiltily. Glancing back at his companions, he is somewhat surprised to see them wearing equally guilty expressions on their faces. Luckily, the women appear to be preoccupied and haven't noticed anything unusual with the exception of Aeris, who is looking intently his way, her eyes filled with concern.

"Bonding time's over, boys," Tifa says impatiently, looking at her wristwatch. "We have to be getting back soon or Yuffie and Cid are going to have our heads."

"I hope everyone's okay." Rinoa slips her phone into her purse with a sigh. "I just keep getting their voicemail."

"That was pretty fast." Zack is staring curiously at the women now. "You couldn't have been gone more than ten minutes."

"There wasn't anything interesting." Aeris brushes the men's astonishment aside with a flippant wave of her hand. His expectant wife is nearing the end of her final trimester but one would hardly know it from the way she is still running about, doing household chores, carrying out errands, and keeping herself busy with preparing for the baby—or nesting as the women call it and have informed their husbands rather loftily on more than one occasion as if they were explaining something incredibly complex to a simpleton.

"Wait, wait," Zack says mockingly. "The three of you really went into a store and found nothing to buy between you? Did I hear that right?"

"And they made it out in record time," Leon adds.

"Ha-ha." Tifa shakes her head. "Very funny."

"What we meant," Rinoa explains in a tone of great exasperation, "is there wasn't anything there that we can't get back in town for about the same price. Let's go. I'd like to hit a couple more stores before we return."

"Did you hear that?" Leon raises a brow sardonically at his wife. "I think that was Yuffie screeching at us all the way from Radiant Garden. No doubt the kids have brought down the house and Cid's torn all his hair out by now with their screaming."

"None of the children are screamers," Rinoa says indignantly.

"Besides, they have Shera," Tifa points out. "She's very good with the children."

Zack puffs out his chest, cracks his knuckles, and reaches over to grab some of the shopping bags littered around the floor by their table, giving an exaggerated grunt of effort as he hoists them up. "Here we go again, boys," he says as the women roll their eyes. "Time to earn our keep and be the pack mules they brought us along for."

"Actually, I wouldn't mind taking a short break myself," Aeris says quickly, and moves toward where Cloud is sitting quietly at their booth, listening to their friends' banter around them. "I'd like to sit down and rest my feet for a minute."

Their eyes meet and even from halfway across the room, Cloud sees relief replacing the worry in her eyes as she smiles warmly at him, lighting up the room, and him, with her loving smile.

He is struck, as always, by the power of the feelings shooting from those beautiful forest greens of hers, and his own feelings that have immediately surfaced inside of him at the sight of her.

Looking up into the radiant face of the pregnant woman approaching their table, it suddenly hits him that the other men had been absolutely right about one thing.

His wife does, indeed, waddle like a duck.

Cloud grins.

She is more beautiful than ever.


End file.
